palaver
part of speech
noun (palaver — uncountable or a palaver, informal); verb (palaver — old)
meaning for a pupil
1) (informal, UK) A lot of fuss and bother about something unimportant: what a palaver! tree →
2) (old) Long talk or chatter. tree →
3) (old) A long meeting or talk between groups of people, especially between traders and local people long ago. tree →
sense in the lessons
Everyday British talk: «What a palaver just to get a passport!» In older books and adventure stories, a palaver is a meeting to talk things over. It tells the reader there is too much talk and fuss.
examples
- What a palaver getting the dog into the car! tree →
- Mum said the school concert was a lot of palaver. tree →
- Stop all this palaver and get your shoes on! tree →
- The chiefs held a long palaver by the river. tree →
- There was a great palaver over who sat where. tree →
- It's too much palaver to bake bread every day. tree →
- "Den, atter some mo' palaver, Brer Fox make a bargain dat Mr. Buzzard wuz ter watch de hole, en keep Brer Rabbit dar wiles Brer Fox went atter his axe. tree →
note
Informal, mainly UK. Say «pa-LAH-ver». Comes from Portuguese «palavra» (word). Similar: fuss, carry-on, rigmarole.
Trees and pragmatics
Every meaning and example of «palaver» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.